New Year's Day
Next: January 1, 2027
A clean page.
The story
Where it comes from
1 January became the start of the year in Rome in 153 BC and was confirmed by the Julian calendar in 45 BC. Medieval Europe drifted to other dates (25 March in England until 1752), and the Gregorian reform of 1582 gradually made 1 January the civil new year for most of the world. Many cultures keep a second, older new year alongside it: the lunar new year across East Asia, Nowruz in Iran and Central Asia, Songkran in Thailand.
How it's celebrated
Midnight countdowns and fireworks (Sydney, Hong Kong, Dubai and London are among the largest), resolutions, and a first-day meal thought to bring luck: twelve grapes in Spain, black-eyed peas in the American South, toshikoshi soba in Japan on the eve and osechi on the day. In Scotland, Hogmanay runs into 2 January and 'first-footing' a neighbour with a gift is still done.
Did you know
- The Times Square ball drop in New York has happened every year since 1907 except 1942 and 1943, when wartime blackouts replaced it with a minute of silence.
- Kiribati's Line Islands are the first inhabited place to reach the new year, at UTC+14.
- In Japan, temple bells are rung 108 times at midnight (joya no kane), once for each worldly desire in Buddhist teaching.
The greeting
Happy New Year!
Coming up next
- Isaac Asimov's Birthday · January 2, 2027
- Tolkien Birthday Toast · January 3, 2027
- World Braille Day · January 4, 2027
- Hayao Miyazaki's Birthday · January 5, 2027
- Epiphany (Three Kings' Day) · January 6, 2027
- Orthodox Christmas · January 7, 2027